Leaving the Moonblade party gathering corner, Kenji looked around the notice area for a while before finding a job.

  “Urgent need! Workers urgently needed!” Standing on a wooden box, a woman was screaming on top of her lungs.

  Before long, a small crowd of interested workers gathered around her.

  “I need fifteen of you to transport Fire Lizards. Have any of you worked with Fire Lizards before?”

  Hearing the woman's question, eight workers, including Kenji, raised their hands.

  “Good, you move to the side. Also, you, you, and you come with me. The rest can leave.” Soon, the woman finished selecting the workers, and before long, twenty-something workers headed out of the city.

  Following the path Kenji was familiar with, the whole band of workers arrived at the Fire Lizards' caves.

  “Good work, Hana.” Sekou was quite pleased with the new recruits, especially the boy deep within the cave.

  “Kenji, my man, good to see you.” Seeing the familiar face, Marconi was delighted and happily rubbed his hands.

  “You… too… too.” Kenji wasn't happy to see Marconi, but still greeted him.

  “What are you guys waiting for? Hurry, we don't have all day.” Not finding another familiar face, Marconi's expression changed, and he coldly ordered the workers.

  Before long, under the guidance of Sekou, the workers entered the cave and started picking the carcasses of the Fire Lizards.

  “Ehh, the kid seems stronger than before.” Sekou noticed changes in Kenji's posture. “Maybe we should recruit him when the party levels up.”

  Picking up the carcass of a Fire Lizard, Kenji and the other workers headed out of the cave.

  “Alright now, rest here. Wait till everyone gets back.” After getting all the carcasses of the Fire Lizards out of the cave, Sekou ordered them to put them down, and he began waiting for his party members to return from exploring the cave.

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  Half an hour later, everyone from the Silver Party exited the cave holding a red glowing ball: a Fire Core.

  “No way, you guys found the Fire Core.” Marconi called out, with shock written all over his face. Even Senkou had strange expressions.

  “Can you believe it, it was just there at the end of the cave. Can't figure out how you guys spent so much time before finding this small thing.” The newest member of the Silver Party spoke in a sarcastic tone; however, deep down she was beaming with excitement.

  When the original members of the Silver Party heard Mira's words, they felt a little depressed. When Ramsas was alive, they explored more than ten caves but never came across a Fire Core.

  But the very first day they returned hunting after the Monster Tide, a Fire Core was sitting for them.

  “Let's just head back, and Rex, thanks for today. We couldn't have done it without you.” Roy, the new leader of the party, commented on the newest and strongest addition to the party.

  Today, if it wasn't for Rex, many of them would have gotten injured.

  “So this is where you have been all this time.” Walking up to Kenji, Rex spoke in his usual cold voice.

  “Y…y.es…” Kenji replied in a panicked voice, as he was scared of Rex outing his identity.

  Many times people aren't willing to hire him when they find out that he is an orphan.

  On many occasions, he wasn't even paid for the work he did. Thankfully, since he started working as a transportation worker, these things have happened less and less.

  The majority of it was because there was no middle man telling his identity as an orphan to everyone.

  “Rex, you know him?” Roy asked, feeling that Kenji might have been working for Rex in his previous party.

  “Yeah, we live in the same house.” Rex didn't want to go into details, feeling that the words that came out of his mouth might hurt Kenji.

  “Okay….” Roy waited for Rex to put in a few good words about the kid, but he got nothing. Rex didn't seem to want to talk about the boy.

  “Let's get going.” Under Roy's order, everyone tightened their belt and headed back to the city.

  Along the way, members of the Silver Party were beaming with joy, both the original and new ones.

  The Silver Party has already gathered all the materials for a certain D-rank Gift. The only missing item was the Fire Core, and now they too have it.

  Which means one of them can go through the third Heavenly Trial.

  Even if they aren't the one acquiring the D-rank Gift, a level 3 Hunter is sure to appear in their party, and hunting would become so much easier.

  Before long, everyone was back in the city.

  “Here, Kenji.” As Kenji was waiting by the Fairy stall, Marconi approached him and handed him 80 copper coins.

  “.. Eh…” Seeing only 80 copper coins, Kenji wasn't sure what to say. Looking at the copper coins in his palm and then at the smiling face of Marconi, Kenji ultimately didn't say anything.

  “That greedy bastard.” Leaving the Silver Party, Kenji cursed Marconi.

  Looking around for a while, Kenji found another job: transporting Lizardmen.

  Around two hours later, Kenji was paid 1 Silver coin and headed back to the housing complex.

  Returning, Kenji ate two bread sticks and then went to sleep.

  [Ancient Calendar: 24 Feb 0001]

  The next morning, Kenji woke up with a strange feeling.

  “What is going on?” For unknown reasons, Kenji was feeling as if a massive burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

  Knock Knock

  Just as Kenji was lost in his thoughts, he heard someone knock on his door. Nervously, he got up and headed to the door.

  ‘Please, don't be Rex. Please don't be Rex.’ With a shaking hand, Kenji turned the doorknob.

  “Kenji, aren't you coming for food?” To Kenji's utmost surprise, the person knocking on the door turned out to be Maria.

  “Fo…food? I… am..good.” Not knowing what was going on, Kenji declined.

  “Come on, don't be like that. You haven't been eating with us for a couple of days.” Maria got hold of Kenji's arm and dragged him out to the living room.

  “Kenji, there you are. What has gotten into you? You don't like this old man's cooking?” Kevin greeted Kenji with all smiles.

  Even Rex and Ryan were looking at him with concern, not the usual disdain.

  __________

  Author’s Note:

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